The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see
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The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see resource for landlubbers and mariners alike.

Carol Gafford is a public librarian, family historian, amateur archivist and book savior. She is currently the youth services/outreach librarian at the Swansea Public Library and volunteers for several museum and historical societies including the Marine Museum at Fall River, the Swansea Historical Society and the Bristol Historical and Preservation society. She is the editor of Past Times, the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists and is always looking for a new project to take on.

With 11.9 seconds left and the Bruins nursing a 2-1 lead Tuesday night, David Krejci iced the puck and his exhausted teammates would have to stay on the ice for the final seconds.

Claude Julien wisely used his timeout to give them a breather. Milan Lucic approached the bench and was doubled over, the effects of a long shift at the end of a hot night in Madison Square Garden apparent. Zdeno Chara, the ever-mindful captain, stood at attention as Julien scrolled on a whiteboard.

Then there was Johnny Boychuk, who put his elbow down on the half-boards in front of the bench, looking as if he was ordering a tuna sandwich at the local diner.

The pressures of playoff hockey don’t faze Boychuk. If the Bruins ever need a team jester, they can just hire No. 55. He has his nonchalant look in his eyes at all time.

Perhaps that why he’s handled his increased role so well in this postseason.

With the Bruins holding a 3-0 lead over New York in the Eastern Conference semifinal series, it’s been Boychuk’s ability to take extra ice time and prosper while doing so, all with a smirk on his face.

After scoring just one goal in 44 regular-season games, Boychuk has four in 10 postseason games. He leads the NHL with 37 blocked shots in the playoffs, more than a few giving him a limp for the rest of the shift.

He’s also been beat up along the wall. He was boarded by the Rangers’ Taylor Pyatt last Thursday, then in overtime that night, he checked himself into the wall and had to come off.

With Andrew Ference, Wade Redden and Seidenberg all in suits, Boychuk has to carry a heavier load. In the four games since Seidenberg hurt his leg, Boychuk has averaged 25:51 of ice time. He averaged just 20:24 during the regular season.

Consider this: since Game 7 against Toronto, Boychuk’s low in ice time is 23:22. In the regular season, he was only above that number once, when he played 23:23 against Buffalo on April 17.

After Daniel Paille’s goal with 3:31 left Tuesday night, Boychuk played 2:39 of the remaining game, over 75 percent of the time as the Bruins looked to hold on.

Julien is leaning more than ever on Boom-Boom, and he’s prevented any New York offensive explosions.

Boychuk has paired with Matt Bartkowski in the last three games. In the first two games of this series when the Bruins were at home, they matched up with the Rangers’ second line of Carl Hagelin, Derek Stepan and Ryan Callahan.

A physical group that works well in front, that line’s only goals have come in transition as the result of Brad Marchand mistakes. When having to outmaneuver Bartkowski and Boychuk, they haven’t scored.

On Tuesday, when John Tortorella got the last change, Boychuk was facing a different line nearly every shift in his 24:37 of ice time. Unofficially, he took nine 5-on-5 shifts after the Stepan line, seven against the Brian Boyle (No. 3) line, six against the Brad Richards (No. 4) line and five against Derick Brassard (No. 1) line.

Boychuk has found scoring success by toning down his Rocket shot, his goals in the last two games each coming on simple, accurate wrist shots. All the blue-liners have preached that in this series against the shot-block-loving Rangers, and it’s a blueprint for Boychuk to have more scoring success. Hard to score when your shot ends up in the rafters every time.

Boychuk is a unique cat in the Bruins dressing room. He has a genuine sense of humor and jokes with the media, teammates, team staff, whoever’s around. When he’s off the ice, he doesn’t get bugged by much.

Apparently that’s true on the ice as well, even if you’re wiped at the end of a road playoff game and are fending off a desperate team.